Race and Inequality

Race, Geography, and Juvenile Justice

Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, University of New Haven

Key Findings

The hypothesis that race and geography impacted juvenile justice was only moderately supported.

White youth and females were less likely to be pre-detained in urban counties.

White youth with felonies were 10 times more likely to be pre-detained and non-white youth only eight times more likely.

Description

In the article, “Race, Geography, and Juvenile Justice: An Exploration of the Liberation Hypothesis,” Boyd and his co-authors analyze the extent that race and geography play in juvenile justice outcomes. Boyd notes that as juvenile court systems are county-based, they can vary within the overall system. To determine if it creates geographic differences in juvenile court, the authors used the liberation hypothesis to find that serious crimes with strong evidence may reduce the influence of a juror’s personal feelings while less serious crimes with weak evidence may increase a juror’s personal feelings. The researchers conducted their study using case files (1,047) from two midwestern juvenile courts from 1990-1994, one urban and one suburban. The data showed that in the urban location the youth were 56% White and 85% male with an average age of 14.63, and a majority (32%) had no previous record. The suburban youth were also majority White (83%) and male (80%) with an average age of 14.69 with 80% of those individuals having no prior record. White youth and females were less likely to be pre-detained in urban counties. For both urban and suburban counties, older youth charged with a felony with priors were more likely to be pre-detained. White youth with felonies were 10 times more likely to be pre-detained and non-white youth only eight times more likely. The author’s hypothesis that race and geography impacted juvenile justice was only moderately supported.